CALF FEEDING

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17750, 29 June 1929, Page 22 (Supplement)

CALF FEEDING

THE CORRECT WAY.

HAND FED AND SUCKLED

Why do hand-fed calves, especially under three or four weeks old, do less satisfactorily than suckled calves. There are several very good reasons to account for it. First, the feeding may be less regular, and at longer Intervals. Second, the milk may be cold, less clean and less rich in quality. Third, the. feeding pail or vessel may not be kept so clean as it should be. Fourth, the quantity of milk given may be less than the calf actually requires,, or on the other hand (though less likely), it maybe more than its stomach can deal with at one meal. A fifth consideration, and a. - very important one, too, is the way the milk is taken. A

suckled calf spends some time over Its meal, and the milk is thoroughly well mixed.with saliva before it passes to the stomach; whereas the pail-fed calf swallows its milk in great gulps. It is a great improvement on the old pall system of feeding to let the calves suck the milk from a wooden peg fixed in the bottom or side of the feeding dish. It must be kept clean and regularly soaked in cold water between meals.

If a calf is being whole milk, warm, as from the cow, it will not do to treat it now and again with cold skim or separated milk, or even with a large admixture of cold milk. When it is necessarv to reduce the quality of the milk, let it be done very gradually, and see that a little cream equivalent be added to replace the butte Mat. If it is linseed you add stick to it. Don’t use linseed one day and cod-liver oil or a proprietary mixture the next, for changes such as these are sure to cause digestive trouble. An acute attack; of. indigestion or scours may follow a meal of cold milk when the calf has to have it warm. Let the milk be given always at a temperature as near that of new-drawn milk, or 98 deg. Fahr., as possible, and not warm at one meal and cold the next. Feed regularly. Fix an hour and keep to it. Calves should be fed three times a day. Calves under four weeks old may be advantageously fed four times a day, say at four-hour intervals. —“Ironclad” in Live Stock Journal." ____